Mid-Day Market Update: Mirati Therapeutics Climbs Following Positive Sitravatinib Data; First Internet Bancorp Shares Slide

Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded up 0.20 percent to 22,247.46 while the NASDAQ rose 0.47 percent to 6,459.03. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.09 percent to 2,497.75.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

On Friday, the technology shares surged 0.63 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included NVIDIA Corporation NVDA, up 5 percent, and Sequans Communications SA ADR SQNS, up 5 percent.

In trading on Friday, basic materials shares fell 0.19 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included James Hardie Industries plc (ADR) JHX, down 5 percent, and DRDGOLD Ltd. (ADR) DRD down 4 percent.

Top Headline

Oracle Corporation ORCL reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter, but issued a weak profit forecast for the current quarter.

Oracle posted Q4 adjusted earnings of $0.62 per share on revenue of $9.19 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.60 per share on sales of $9.03 billion.

Oracle expects Q2 adjusted earnings of $0.64 to $0.68 per share, versus analysts’ estimates of $0.68 per share. The company projects Q2 sales growth of 2 percent to 4 percent.

Equities Trading UP

Mirati Therapeutics, Inc. MRTX shares shot up 151 percent to $11.93 following announcement of positive preliminary data from two ongoing clinical trials of its non-small cell lung cancer, or NSCLC, candidate sitravatinib. The company said the data will be presented at the IASLC 2017 Chicago Multidisciplinary Symposium in Thoracic Oncology on Friday.

Shares of Abeona Therapeutics Inc ABEO got a boost, shooting up 18 percent to $16.49. RBC Capital initiated coverage on Abeona Therapeutics with an Outperform rating and $23 price target.

The Stars Group Inc. TSG shares were also up, gaining 10 percent to $19.17 after the company raised its FY2017 guidance.

Equities Trading DOWN

T2 Biosystems Inc TTOO shares dropped 23 percent to $4.68. T2 Biosystems priced its 4.375 million share offering at $4 per share.

Shares of Oracle Corporation ORCL were down 7 percent to $49.23. Oracle reported better-than-expected results for its first quarter, but issued a weak profit forecast for the current quarter.

First Internet Bancorp INBK was down, falling around 6 percent to $29.20. First Internet Bancorp priced 1.65 million shares at $29 per share.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.16 percent to $49.81 while gold traded down 0.31 percent to $1,325.20.

Silver traded down 0.64 percent Friday to $17.675, while copper fell 0.49 percent to $2.943.

Eurozone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 dropped 0.35 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.60 percent, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index declined 0.16 percent. Meanwhile the German DAX dropped 0.17 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.33 percent while U.K. shares fell 1.01 percent.

Economics

U.S. retail sales declined 0.2 percent for August, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.1 percent growth.

The Empire State manufacturing index dropped to 24.40 in September, from August reading of 25.20. Economists were expecting a reading of 19.00.

U.S. industrial production declined 0.9 percent for August, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.1 percent growth.

U.S. business inventories rose 0.2 percent for July, versus economists’ expectations for a 0.20 percent gain.

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index dropped to 95.30 in September, versus prior reading of 96.80. Economists projected a reading of 95.10.

The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week will be released at 1:00 p.m. ET.